I tend to shoot at a higher shutter speed. I like to stop the action and just leave a blur of the prop, although it does sometimes stop depending on shutter speed.
Depending on altitude and speed, you may need to not quite fill the frame and lead the airplane slightly. You will tend to stop when youe shoot, so it you are leading, you will catch the whole airplane, rather than just the front or back.
Always shott with the sun between you and the airplane, unless you like silhouette shots.
Rather than shoot black and white film, I use photoshop, or a photo lab if doing prints from color. That way you have the best of both worlds.
When doing digital photos, one word...photoshop! You can crop, color, resize and do just about anything to a good photo. In some cases make a good photo great.
This is going to sound crazy, but I did this in the past. With 2 day shows, shoot the aerial displays with video. Then, go home and watch it that night and look for shots that would make great pictures the following day. The only problem with that is if the weather or sky changes drastically.
Like the shot too, trackend!